Spud! is the largest organic food delivery company in North America, serving more than 19,000 customers in major metropolitan areas on the West Coast (Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and now, San Francisco), in addition to Canada.

And, I had the pleasure of interviewing the CEO of Spud!, David Van Seters. Check out the interview Q&As below.

Cheryl: How did you get into the organic food business?
David: I was working as a sustainability business consultant, making a business case for companies to adopt higher standards of environmental and social performance. While I enjoyed consulting, I was keen to actually launch a business that integrated environmental, social, and economic values.

I wanted to start a sustainable business that related to the four major individual lifestyle choices that impact on the environment:

a) Sustainable transportation – how people travel (e.g. eco-tourism, long distance ride sharing etc).
b) Sustainable building – how people live (green building design)
c) Sustainable consumption – what people do with their incomes (ethical investing, conscious consumerism)
d) Sustainable agriculture and food – how people eat.

I chose the latter because food affects literally everyone – it is the one industry sector that no can say – food, nah that’s not for me. Everyone is involved and so it has the potential to have a big impact.
Coincidentally, I was hired to do a study on the economics of sustainable community food systems. Through that work I became much more aware of how much power in the food industry is controlled at the retail and distributor levels and how little trickles down to the people who acturally produce the food. I also learned how aternative retailing approaches like farm gate sales, farmers’ markets, and a new concept called organic food delivery, could restore that balance. I chose the latter because I was really looking for a for-profit enterprise and it could be implemented in an urban setting, where I lived.

Cheryl: How did you create the name SPUD?
David: Because I was just looking to create a little demonstration business, I looked for a suitably modest name. Because the business involved food, with an emphasis on produce, I thought it would be appropriate to call it “Small Potatoes”. I also wanted to highlight the delivery aspect. The initials for Small Potatoes Delivery, spelled SPD, and it wasn’t a big leap from there to realize that if I added the word “urban” that the initials of “Small Potatoes Urban Delivery” would spell SPUD.

Cheryl: For Sevenwide readers that have never tried organic, let alone any grocery delivery company, how does this all work?
David: It is quite simple actually. Customers just go to spud.com and enter their zipcode to make sure that we deliver to their area and to learn their delivery day (we deliver to each neighbourhood just once a week to reduce delivery costs and fossil fuel emissions). Customers then just click on the “Go Shopping” tab, add the items that they want and then go to the checkout, just like Amazon.

Like many other produce-only delivery firms it is possible to order a customized box of organic produce, however there is no obligation to do so, nor is there a requirement to set up a recurring order. Delivery is free on most orders over $32 and our prices are competitive with local groceries stores (we even publish price comparisons to provide proof!).

Cheryl: You recently started delivering in the San Francisco Bay Area in the last year. What makes San Francisco a unique location compared to Seattle, Los Angeles, Portland, and Canada?
David: spud! customers in general tend to be very well educated. What is unique about San Francisco customers is that they are the most educated of all of our locations. Over 80% of our San Francisco customers have a university degree and over 40% have two degrees or more! San Francisco customers also value the time and money they save by avoiding shopping trips more than our other locations.

Cheryl: Where do you get your produce from? Does it come from local farmers? What are the names of some of the Farmers you work with?
David: We buy our produce from a large number of local farms. A few examples include: Benzler Farm in Fresno, Jacob’s Farm in Pescadero, Lakeside Organic Gardens in Watsonville, Durst Organic Growers in Esparto, and Twin Girls Farm in Dinuba. We are so passionate about buying local that we publish the distance from each farm to our San Francisco warehouse. I am not aware of any other grocery retailer that has as high a percentage of local products as we do. We vow that we will never be under-distanced!

Cheryl: Besides produce, what other groceries can customers buy from Spud!?
David: Our local suppliers provide us with bakery items, beverages, baby food, dairy products, meat & meat alternatives, prepared meals & soups, snacks, health & home products, and even bulk staples. It is very important to us that our customers be able to order a full range of groceries so that can really avoid a shopping trip.

Cheryl: Does Spud! work with any organizations that give back to the community?
David: We support a variety of non-profit organizations that are compatible with our social mission. For example, currently, we are collecting business suits, dress shirts, shoes, etc for The Riley Centre in San Francisco donations, which assists women in abusive relationships.

Cheryl: What are your plans for Spud! for the future?
David: We are hoping to expand from seven cities today to 24 in the next 5 years. We passionately believe that getting organic and natural groceries delivered from a service like ours is one of the easiest and most powerful things that people can do to reduce their environmental impacts and support their local community. We want to extend our model out to other cities so that people come to associate grocery home delivery with a more local, healthy, eco-friendly and socially beneficial way to buy their food.

Given the rapid decline of our environment, our health, and the social fabric of our communities there is an urgent need for ethical companies to get to scale so they can counterbalance all those big companies out there who only care about making a profit. We believe that business can be a powerful force for creating a better world and we want to be a strong example.

Cheryl: If you could breed two fruits together to make one, what would that be?
David: Grapes and Bananas – I haven’t got a clue what it would make but they are my two favorite fruits.

Cheryl: What special offer do you have for the readers of Sevenwide.com?
David: We would be happy to offer readers of Sevenwide.com $25 worth of free groceries ($5 off their first three orders, and $10 off their fourth order). All they would need to do is enter the promo code SEVENWIDE, when they sign up!

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